Bitcoin bull? BlackRock’s IBIT holdings skyrocket 117%

The investment giant, BlackRock is doubling down on US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holdings. In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its Global Allocation Fund reported a 117% increase in IBIT shares as of October 31. Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have logged record inflows after Donald Trump’s Presidential election win.

Since the beginning of October, Bitcoin’s price has surged from $60,000 to $106,000. BTC is up by more than 45% in the last 90 days. However, BlackRock’s IBIT recorded a record outflow of $188.7 million on December 24, eclipsing its prior $72.7 million outflow on December 20.

BlackRock doubles down on Bitcoin ETFs

As per the filing, BlackRock’s Global Allocation Fund reported owning 430,770 shares of IBIT as of October 31. It is valued at around $17.13 million. The fund held 198,874 shares previously reported as of July 31. It mentioned holding 43,000 shares by the end of April.

iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) is the largest player in the crypto investment fund market. It holds $53.78 billion worth of net assets as of December 24, 2024. IBIT has knocked $37.17 billion of net inflow by the date.

Bitcoin ETFs saw $338.4 million in total outflows on December 24, contributing to a staggering $1.52 billion net outflows since December 19. Fidelity’s FBTC posted $83.16 million of withdrawals on the same day. Bitwise’s BITB recorded the net inflow for the day as it registered $8.50 million of deposits Meanwhile, Ether ETFs surged with $53.6M in inflows on December 24 and $130.8 million the day before. Launched in July, they’ve been gaining ground since November’s 18-day inflow streak.

Bitcoin price has dropped by 3% in the last 7 days but it still holds a gain of 125% on YTD. BTC is trading at an average price of $95,462, at the press time. Its 24-hour trading volume is up 35% to stand at $47 billion.

Are crypto ETFs the biggest winner of 2024?

Dec 16 marked a major milestone for the crypto industry as US Bitcoin ETFs overtook gold ETFs in AUM for the first time, reaching $129 billion. Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33 Research highlighted that Bitcoin ETF flows are 4.5 times as fast as the inflation-adjusted gold ETF flows from their launch. He added that the BTC ETFs’ cumulative flows are still behind gold.

Lunde reported that the Net Bitcoin ETF inflows in 2024 represented 3.5% of all net inflows to US ETFs in 2024. He added that BTC ETPs added 561,786 BTC in 2024 globally. The report suggests that 859,454 BTC has been bought by ETFs and public companies during the year. This accumulation is equivalent to 4.3% of the circulating supply absorbed in one year.

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